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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29710824">The One That (Almost) Got Away</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake'>afteriwake</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>In So Few Words [282]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sherlock (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bullied Molly Hooper, Cheeky Molly Hooper, Cigarettes, Developing Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, First Kiss, Goodbyes, Molly Hooper Draws Sherlock Holmes, Molly Hooper Loves Sherlock Holmes, POV Sherlock Holmes, Schoolyard fights, Sherlock Has A Crush, Sherlock Holmes Gets Expelled, Sherlock Holmes Has Feelings, Sherlock Holmes Has a Heart, Teen Crush, Teen Molly Hooper, Teen Sherlock, Teenagers, Time Skips, cheek kissing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 17:46:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>760</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29710824</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>William defended the girl he liked but could never tell. But she let him know the feeling was reciprocal before he left her forever...or at least for the time being.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>In So Few Words [282]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/709206</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Molly Hooper Appreciation Week February Bingo 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The One That (Almost) Got Away</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/rabbit_in_blue/gifts">rabbit_in_blue</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><b>rabbit_in_blue</b> asked for a kissing fic with the prompt "<i>Kissing in a stairwell, giving them an artificial height difference</i>," and this also answers the "<i>Swept Away</i> prompt on my Molly Hooper Appreciation Week bingo card.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>William was tall for his age. He hated standing out from the crowd any more than he already did with his deductions, but it wasn’t something he could control. Just like the deductions, he thought to himself as he made his way down the hall to his classroom. Being tall had no advantage.</p><p>“Um, excuse me? Could you help?”</p><p>That voice would snap him out of any daze. Molly Hooper was...unique. Like him. She liked morbid things like dissections. She made jokes that edged on dark humor, and he liked her. Maybe he even <i>liked</i> her liked her, but she never seemed to notice him.</p><p>Until just now.</p><p>He stopped scowling and gave her a quizzical look. “Sure, I guess.”</p><p>“Some tossers put my bag up on top of the cabinet and I can’t reach it,” she said, giving him a sad smile. He never wanted to see a sad smile. He liked the grins she gave and the guffawing laugh she had and...well, everything about her. Not that he would <i>tell</i> her, but still. “Could you pull it down for me?”</p><p>“Do you know who did it?” William asked, trudging over to the cabinets at the back of the classroom. Her bag was sitting there, not quite out of reach. He snagged it with a finger and inched it closer until he could get a good grip, and then he pulled it down. A notebook fell out and flapped open, and as he looked down he saw a picture of him she had drawn.</p><p>He looked back at her but there were tears at the corner of her eyes as she grabbed the bag from him, scrambled to pick up the notebook and close it, and before he could say a word about the blush on her cheeks she dashed away from him and out the door. So. She studied him enough to draw him. Well.</p><p>He owed her something for her embarrassment.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>
    <b>---</b>
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</div>Three days later, after some observations, careful deductions, and one massive miscalculation on the experience of his opponent, his eye was swollen shut and his jaw hurt, but as they said in most circles, you should see the other guy. He was in a stairwell in the old part of the school, enjoying a cig before going home to explain to Big Brother why he was a mess and why he’d been kicked out of yet another school. He was going to miss Molly, but if she was lucky, the tossers who stole her bag wouldn’t bother her again. For once he wasn’t in a fight for personal reasons; he’s done it for someone else. And it felt good.<p>“Those will kill you.”</p><p>That voice. He would miss that voice. “Not if I don’t fight the wrong person first.”</p><p>“Well, I heard they’ve got broken bones.” Molly sat down next to him and turned his face to face her. “You got expelled.”</p><p>“I did,” he said, nodding slightly, his chin cupped in her hands.</p><p>“Fighting on my behalf.”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Prat. We could have enjoyed the rest of the year together. I like you, you dolt. Now I won’t see you every day.”</p><p>“I know,” he said, pulling away from her gentle grasp. She brushed a curl away and kissed his cheek, and when she pulled away his head went up sharply. “What was that for?”</p><p>“For teaching them a lesson.”</p><p>He stubbed out the cigarette and stood up, noting the height difference. She must have noticed, too, because she took a few steps up, and soon they were eye to eye. She leaned in and kissed him softly, his first kiss, and he was too stunned to respond, but it was a quick peck on the lips anyway. “And what was that for?” he asked, his voice full of wonder.</p><p>“To remember me by,” she said with a smile before walking away. His eyes followed her and he was swept away by feelings of love and loss and regret and hope.</p><p>When he found her again, all those years later at Barts, she didn’t recognize him. But he knew her, and that part of his heart she’d burrowed into grew the more he got to know her. And by the time she realized that William, the boy who had been her schoolyard hero, was Sherlock, the man she loved, she was as swept up in it all as he was. Love and danger...that was their lot in life.</p><p>But what a life it turned out to be, now that they were together again.</p>
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